8 Reasons Martial Arts is Better than Traditional Team Sports

For kids and teens, conventional team sports are a great way to stay active, but there are some downsides to them. Most team sports have a lengthy off-season. That gives way for plenty of time for deconditioning , forgetting new skills, and sliding back into bad habits like too much screen time.

Whether it’s basketball, football, or soccer, if your child isn’t as athletically gifted as other players on the team, they may end up spending the majority of games watching from the sidelines. Being a benchwarmer comes with the same negative effects as being a couch potato. What if there was another way to keep your kids engaged and moving all year long?

Fortunately, there’s a better option for families in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, and Palatine…Children’s Martial Arts and Junior Kickboxing. As parents, we understand choosing an after-school or weekend activity for your kids can be challenging. Let us help make this decision a simple one!

In this blog, we’ll share why martial arts classes are more beneficial for young people than traditional team sports.

8 Reasons Why Martial Arts is Better than Traditional Team Sports

1. Improves Self Defense: The most common reason most people decide to study Martial Arts is to learn how to protect themselves. Total Impact Martial Arts will prepare you to defend yourself both mentally and physically. Our incredible training programs will help your child or teen avoid potential dangers, learn anti-kidnapping tactics, escape grapples, and stand up to bullies.
2. Builds Confidence: As your child becomes more proficient in martial arts, they’ll naturally become more confident. This confidence helps your children become more assertive in accomplishing their goals, taking risks, and can help them stand up to bullies.  
3. Instills Discipline: Practice makes progress. Through repetition and hard work, your child or teen will understand the importance of perseverance; a key life skill that will serve them many years to come. As they become more proficient at performing martial arts moves, they will be excited about their progression…which brings us to the next topic… 
4. Belt Progression System: Goal setting,l achievement, and positive reinforcement are all  important components of Total Impact curriculum. Students are given the opportunity to showcase their skills in a belt test. Should they pass, they are moved to the next belt color (or level). This gives them a sense of accomplishment and progression as they continue throughout their martial arts journey, further instilling the payoff of dedication and discipline.. 
5. Rewards Individual Achievement: There is no riding the bench in martial arts. Every students’ experience is important and everyone gets “playing time”. As kids get older, sports start to have more skill disparity and competition. That means late bloomers often get alienated from participating in varsity sports because they didn’t “make the team”. Or they do make the team, but are reduced to being front row spectators on the bench. If you want your child’s full potential to be nurtured through years of disciplined and diligent training, enroll them in a martial arts school. The only true competition in martial arts is with oneself! 
6. Promoting Healthy Lifestyle: For children aged 2-19 between the years of 2017-2020, about 14.7 million children experience childhood obesity in the US. Childhood obesity puts children and teens at risk for heart disease, diabetes, depression, and much more. Between the crunches, calisthenics, stretches, punches, and kicks, your child will experience a challenging workout that improves their cardio, burns calories, and keep them at a healthy weight for their age.  Read our previous blog about the many mental health benefits from karate!
7. No Off-Season: Football, basketball, baseball and most other sports all have off-seasons. That means several months at a time where your child or teen doesn’t have a structured after-school schedule, or a positive activity where they can stay active and be social. It’s also  plenty of time for bad habits to resurface ord gains to be lost. The good news? There is no offseason with martial arts! Total Impact has classes year round with plenty of different specialty classes to keep your child engaged, making friends, and feeling their best!! 
8. Fosters Athletic Development: Many world class, professional athletes take up martial arts or MMA to in order to improve their game skills. Martial arts has been shown to improve balance, flexibility, speed and agility – all of which are skills that will help your child excel in other sports. We recommend athletes of all ages supplement their training with martial arts to stay well-rounded!